So what was in that bowl in the locker room that Riley was hiding?

Dallas had a bowl in their locker room too. Problem was Cuban kept dropping turds in it.

 

It was cards with the trophy on it. Players dumped in photos of family and other personal things. After wins Riley would add more cards. In other words it was a bowl of overhyped bulls$#t.

 

You guys can think it's lame until you're blue in the face but the bottom line is that Pat Riley is a great motivator and he had a lot of egos to harness on that Heat team. He came up with an original way to bring them all together as one.

Did this method really make a big difference in the series? There's no way to know, obviously. But what I do know is that they're all going to get a ring on opening night next season, and that's not lame at all.

 

Amen!

 

I mostly agree with you. Riley is a great coach and I am glad he has vindicated himself. However bowl or no bowl they still win this thing in 6. You say there is no way to tell, and you are right. But come on... A bowl? Even if it turned out to be a great motivational tool it is still a weak, anti-climatic, overhyped story. The way the media built this thing up had us thinking Wilt's soul was in there. Instead... Pieces of paper.

 

Hey!!! I was a great motivator.

Sincerely,
Ron Jeremy errrrrrr Stan Van Gundy

 

Well, I don't think they requested that the media build it up like that. Personally when I heard what it was, I thought it was pretty cool. Not just the regular cards in there, but the ones of the players together and with their families.

 

that's the media's fault, not Riley's.

 

With the way the mavs played after game two, it's probally their balls.

 

No one said it was Riley's fault.

 

It was a MacGuffin. Same shyte that was in Marcellus Wallace's briefcase.

 

Riley brought all those INDIVIDUALS into a family/team atmosphere.

 

Riley was going to get a naked picture of the owner, and tear off a piece of his clothing piece by piece for each win... but Lou Brown had already done that for the Cleveland Indians.

Seriously, though... it didn't seem like much... but it was something that they all obviously bought into. After that point, it doesn't matter what it is... it could have been a bowl, a picture, a plate of food... all that matters is that every member of the team was into it, and unified by it.

As someone already said... a bunch of different personalities, different agendas, different backgrounds all came together and believed/was interested in something... that's all it was, and all it needed to be.